Boxers

Professional boxer Steve Geffrard has chalked up last year as a learning experience. The 23-year-old from Boca Raton went 1-2 in his inaugural campaign but is looking for bigger and better results during his second year in the ring. "Last year was a rough year," said Geffrard, a 2010 graduate of St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton . The losing record was especially tough to take considering his prior success in the sport. Geffrard is the former No. 1 U.S. Amateur Heavyweight Boxer and 2010 Amateur Triple Crown Winner (National Golden Gloves, USA Boxing National and National PAL titles)

When he walked into the gym to try boxing for the first time, Richard Picone couldn't do 10 sit-ups or five push-ups. He couldn't twist his body to the side or bend his knees. Bend and weave, his trainers told him, but he couldn't do either. At 63 years old, it just hurt too much. Fast forward a year-and-a-half and Picone was bending and weaving plenty, blocking jabs and landing punches at the largest amateur boxing tournament in the world. Boxers his age were rare enough in the group of 1,500 competitors that only one fight stood between him and a championship belt.

Devon Williams knows he has some big shoes to fill in his family. The 11-year-old member of the Boca Raton Police Athletic League boxing team has followed in his brother's footsteps while progressing through the junior ranks. Williams, who travels from his home in Fort Lauderdale several times a week to train, won his bout by unanimous decision during the recent State Junior Olympic boxing competition at Sugar Sand Park in Boca Raton . The sixth-grader at William Dandy Middle School defeated Eric Tudor, of North Miami PAL, to take the 85-pound division title — especially impressive since he's only been boxing for three years.

A former heavyweight boxing champion and a port commissioner are challenging U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings in the Democratic primary in a black-majority district that stretches across the Everglades. District 20 — which includes parts of Deerfield Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderhill, Pompano Beach, Tamarac, West Palm Beach, Belle Glade and Hendry County — is one of the most Democratic in Florida. The challengers, Jameel McCline and Jean Enright, both say the district needs a more active representative deeply engaged in the local community.

Catherine Fusilier and Lacey Roberts drove 19 hours from Baton Rouge, La., to compete in the Golden Gloves. "I wait tables and dream," said Fusilier, 31, making her national debut at 114 pounds. "We left 1:30 last night and got lost three or four times but we're here." There are two married boxers, boxers being coached by their fathers, three sisters and an unexpected large turnout of masters (35-and-older) boxers who just want to compete and have no interest in turning pro. At 54, Jane Anderson of Homosassa, a former gym owner and coach who has been boxing for five years, will make her competitive debut.

Sun Sentinel The challenge to South Florida business executive David Schulman was simple: Model boxer shorts in front of 1,200 people, and his friend would donate $25,000 to the Multiple Sclerosis Society, his favorite charity. Schulman, a 57-year-old grandfather, strutted his stuff on Thursday in silk, Rene Ruiz-designer shorts at a gala luncheon held at the Broward County Convention Center, with his 3-year-old grandson Brandon wearing a matching outfit. The audience applauded, and some women howled.

When it comes to working with students inside the Boca Raton Police Athletic League, Joe Oms does his best to be a positive role model for youth through good discipline, self-esteem and positive moral values. Like the rest of his Hollywood P.A.L. boxing teammates, this leader-by-example mentality was put on display for everyone to see during the recent "Heroes in Action" boxing event at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. "To be able to contribute at that level was an honor," said Oms, a Coconut Creek resident.

It only took one visit to a boxing gymnasium for Zachary Bram to know he wanted to be involved in the sport. "I got hooked to it," said Bram, 12. "I like that you can travel around the world and box against better competition. [Boxing] also gives you confidence because you know you can defend yourself. If someone is bullying you, you know what to do. " Bram, of West Palm Beach, was one of 40 South Florida boxers who competed in the recent Florida Gold Coast Boxing Junior Olympic State Championships at Deerfield Beach High School.

The Junior Olympic East Nationals Diving Championships and the South Florida Golden Gloves Championships, featuring top local athletes looking to qualify for major competitions, are today and tomorrow at three sites. The diving championships, featuring some of the best age-group divers in the eastern United States, is at the Coral Springs Aquatic Center. About 200 divers representing five Junior Olympic regions will compete in four age groups on 1- and 3-meter springboard and platform.

Wheelchair bowlers Larry Seymour and Harry Deal have shared advice that professional boxers like Duane Bobick, Marvis Frazier and Ken Norton -- and other victims of embarrassing first-round knockouts -- should have heeded. It is advice the bowlers have preached for more than 15 years, advice that Seymour followed to win the American Wheelchair Bowling Association National Tournament in Orange, Calif., in July. It is advice the two bowlers -- particularly Deal -- received firsthand from sources like Muhammad Ali, trainer/manager Angelo Dundee and former light- heavyweight champion Willie Pastrano.

Boxing-At-The-Creek VII, featuring 16 bouts of amateur and master's boxers ages 8 to 58, will take place Saturday at StrikeGym, 6814 N. State Road 7, in Coconut Creek. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Fights will start at 6 p.m., including a master's rematch bout between Terry Mullen and Coleman McKenney. StrikeGym boxers Dustin "Nomad" Arnold, Johnny "Thunder" Scibica, Darrell "Moose" Meckley, John "Mickey D" Eastep and Kayla "Flakes" Silverman also will fight. As part of the event, StrikeGym will donate three boxing scholarships to Big Brothers Big Sisters.

At 71, former boxer David Marks can still slip a punch. But the Aventura resident prefers teaching boxing to aspiring professional fighters or young people who just want to defend themselves. "I can't explain it," Marks said over coffee one morning at a cafe across the street from the Hollywood Police Department, where he works as a community service officer. "When kids discover they can do something, like ducking a punch, their eyes light up," he said. "I enjoy that little moment of discovery.

Fighting in a strip club could have led to a darker path for 17-year-old Chasity Martin. She was working with an amateur coach in a Deerfield Beach gym when she was discovered by Stacy McKinley. McKinley, who has trained several champions including Mike Tyson, convinced Martin to work with him instead. The partnership has worked well with Martin on the main card for an outdoor boxing match Saturday at Gold's Gym in Deerfield Beach. Her fight is scheduled for 7 p.m. Martin, who attends Monarch High, said her goal is to make the 2016 Olympic team.

Devon Williams knows he has some big shoes to fill in his family. The 11-year-old member of the Boca Raton Police Athletic League boxing team has followed in his brother's footsteps while progressing through the junior ranks. Williams, who travels from his home in Fort Lauderdale several times a week to train, won his bout by unanimous decision during the recent State Junior Olympic boxing competition at Sugar Sand Park in Boca Raton . The sixth-grader at William Dandy Middle School defeated Eric Tudor, of North Miami PAL, to take the 85-pound division title — especially impressive since he's only been boxing for three years.

Professional boxer Steve Geffrard has chalked up last year as a learning experience. The 23-year-old from Boca Raton went 1-2 in his inaugural campaign but is looking for bigger and better results during his second year in the ring. "Last year was a rough year," said Geffrard, a 2010 graduate of St. Andrew's School in Boca Raton . The losing record was especially tough to take considering his prior success in the sport. Geffrard is the former No. 1 U.S. Amateur Heavyweight Boxer and 2010 Amateur Triple Crown Winner (National Golden Gloves, USA Boxing National and National PAL titles)

PEMBROKE PINES When Ernesto Grimaldi awoke to find a burglar in his Century Village apartment, he took off after the fleeing culprit in his bare feet and wearing nothing but his boxer shorts. That's when calls started to flood in to 911 from neighbors startled to see a nearly naked man running through the golf course. The suspect was startled too, but for a different reason - Grimaldi, 59, just would not give up. At one point the suspect offered him $100 to stop the chase.

Before Christy Martin, there was Barbara Buttrick. Nearly a half century ago, the feisty Brit from Yorkshire, England, grew up with a heavy bag hanging in her backyard and taking on all the neighborhood lads. She became the world flyweight and bantamweight women's champion. Before promoter Don King made Martin a millionaire by putting her on his Las Vegas undercards, and before women's boxing gained exposure and acceptance on pay-per-view television and title fight cards, Buttrick was one of the real pioneers in women's boxing.

CORAL SPRINGS -- Unless you know what you are looking for, it is a difficult task to find Al Fox`s Academy of Boxing. It is tucked away in a little plaza, sandwiched between an auto repair store and a chicken restaurant. Unless you know Andy Gianino, it is difficult to pick him out among the academy`s young boxers. He is 26, and looks 18, but that has actually helped him deal better with the boxers. He is one of them, and sometimes they even forget that Andy Gianino, boxer and trainer, is also Andy Gianino, Deerfield Beach detective.

This neighbor's a real knockout. An Oak Hill couple saw several people walking on their property and then start to burglarize their home on Tuesday afternoon, reports WESH NBC News-2 in Orlando. Although the hubby grabbed a gun, it was a neighbor, a woman who is an ex-boxer, who was the undisputed champ, as she tackled one of the suspects to the ground, according to the report. She allegedly asked the suspect, identified as Justin Goodrich, 23, how'd he like being tackled by a 44-year-old woman.

Boxer Sergey Kovalev left Russia to pursue the American dream. Now that he's had some success, he wants to help others as he calls Fort Lauderdale his home. "I want to go to different places like high schools and gyms to talk to kids and to give them hope, and inspire them the same way I was inspired. I want to embrace South Florida in any way I can," Kovalev said. On Saturday, Kovalev will fight Ismayl Sillakh in Quebec City, Canada, to defend his light heavyweight WBO title.